Railway cattle-guard.



No. 762,854- PATENTED JUNE '14, 1904. J. L. WELLS. RAILWAY CATTLE GUARD.

. APPLICATION FILED szr'nza. 19os. no MODEL.

4 I H v n r WITNESSES:

UNITED STATES Patentedrjune 14, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

RAIILWAY CATTLE-GUARD;

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 762,854, dated June 14,1904.

Application filed September 28, 1903. Serial No. 174,968. (No model.) I

To all whone it may concern:

Be it known that LJOHN L. WELLS, a citizen of the United States,residing at East Bernstadt, in the State of Kentucky, have invented newand useful Improvements in Railway Oattle-Guards, of which the followingis aspeci fication.

This invention relates to railway cattleguards; and one of the principalobjects in view is to provide a guard having its cooperating partsnormally below the upper portion of the rails, so as to prevent contactof some part of said guard with a depending part of the gear of a car.

In actual practice it has been found that those guards now generally inuse are of a bulky construction, and therefore extend above the tiestosuch an extent that they are frequently demolished by contact with apart ofa moving car, especially cars heavilygloaded, not only renderlngthe guard 1noperative,but seriously menac ng the lives of passengers byreason of possible derailments of the cars.-

In correcting this evil the present invention contemplates the provisionof a light, strong, and durable guard that will be positive in itsoperation and one that can be manufactured at a minimum of expense.

A further object is to provide means whereby the action of the guardwill be insured, so that the tread members will automatically return totheir normal positions when pressure thereon has been relieved.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be specifically setforth in the following description, it being understood that changes asto form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resortedto without departing from the spirit thereof.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan view of a portion of a track,showing my invention applied. Fig. 2 is a view in elevation, theabnormalposition of the tread members being illustrated in dotted lines. Fig. 3is a top plan view of a slightly-modified form of the device applied.Fig.4 is a View of the modified form in elevation, and Fig. 5 is adetail perspective view of one of the tread members.

In the preferred form of my invention, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,a track is shown comprising the rails 1 and 2, secured to the usual ties3. The cattle-guardis so disposed with relation to thetrack that no partthereof will be exposed above the rails or have any projecting partclose to the rails. The guard, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,comprises a trough or box 4:, the depending sides 5 and 6 of whichare-secured to the adjacent ties by suitable fasteners, and the bottom 7is fastened to the lower edges of the sides 5 and 6 and is provided withtwo strips 8 and 9,which constitute stops, against which the depressedends of the tread members will rest, as will be presently explained. Thetread members 10 are independently pivoted to a shaft or support ll onone edge of the trough 4 and each comprises a plate having terminal andintermediate upstanding guards 12 and 13, respectively. These guards areillustrated as comprising a series of spurs, the terminal series beingformed by bending one end of the plate at right angles, the spurs beingpreviously formed in cutting the plate. The intermediate guard 13 isformed from metal in' substantially the same manner as guard 12 and isarranged immediately above the pivotpoint of the plate member, so as toprotect this point-from being trodden upon and cause the apprQachinganimal to tread upon the short portion of the plate member and press thesame down into the trough over which it projects, thereby confusing theanimal and at the same time bringing the plate member into elevated ortilted-position. The end of the plate which extends over the openportion of the trough is provided with ahinge leaf or extension 14,which is slightly overlapped by the edge 15 of the plate, so that whenthe plate is in its normal or horizontal position said edge 15 will actas a stop to limit the movement of the plate in one direction. When theplate is swung on its pivot, however, the overlapping edge will comeinto contact with one of the stops of the trough, while the free end ofthe hinge-leaf 14 will rest upon the other stop,so that the two stopswill be spanned ing it free to be extracted without difliculty.

As soon as pressure upon the depressed end of the plate is removed theweighted end will return to its normal or horizontal position.

In the modified form shown in Figs. 3 and 4 only one stop is employed inthe trough,-which stop is designated by the reference-numeral 16, andthis stop will form a support for the depressed end of the pivoted plateor tread memberl'f, which is illustrated as being formed of a singlepiece of material. The operation, however, is precisely the same as inthe form illustrated in Figs. 1' and 2, the only differ ence being thatthe hinge-leaf is not employed.

It will be apparent that the device can be easily. and cheaplymanufactured and will be durable and eifective, and while I have illustrated in detail the various forms of the device I do not wish to beunderstood as limiting myself to the exact details shown, but reservethe right to make suchcha-nges and alteration as would properly comewithin the scope of the following claims.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Pat- 1 cut, is

l. A cattle-guard comprising a series of 1 pivoted members and havingterminal i-ntermediate guards, the intermediate one being immediatelyabove the pivotal points of the j members. i

2. A cattle-guard comprising a series of E members pivoted intermediatetheir ends, and having a row of spurs arranged thereon over thepivot-points thereof, substantially as described.

3. A cattle-guard comprising, a suitable support, and a series ofmembers pivoted intermediate their ends, adapted by gravity to lienormally in a horizontal plane on said sup- I port, and having anupstanding guard for the pivot points thereof, substantially asdescribed.

4. A cattleguard comprising, a suitable support, and a series of memberspivoted intermediate their ends, adapted to seek normally a horizontalposition, and having an upstanding terminal guard, and an upstand-- ingguard for the pivot-point thereof subend of said extension whendepressed, substantially as described.

7. In acattle-guard, one or more tiltable tread members carrying each ahinged extens-ion'on its depressible end adapted to move therewith as asingle element during a part of its tilting movement, and a stop for en-1 gaging the said extension at a predetermined point of the depressingmovement, substantially as described.

8. In-a'cattle-guard, one or more tiltable tread members, an extensionfor each member, hinged at its. inner edge to the upper side of thedepressible portion of said tread member and overlapping the same, andmeans for engaging the extension at a predetermined point in itsdepressing movement, substantially as described.

"9. In a-cattle guard, one or more tiltable tread members, carrying eacha hinged extension on its depressible end, a stop arranged below thefulcrum of said tiltable member for the outer end of said extension, anda stop for limiting the movement of the tiltable member, substantiallyas described.

7 In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification inthe presence of'two sub- :scribin-g witnesses.

JOHN L. WELLS.

